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The week in review
Sep. 21st, 2025 04:25 pmThree things I did last week: (That may or may not have involved clay.)
1. Canned tomato sauce. We hit our favorite local farm stand and came home with apples, sweet corn, apple cider donuts (Denise's requirement) and two lugs of Roma tomatoes. Also mushrooms and green onions, which I sautéed and sweated, respectively, Sunday night. Monday, I washed and stemmed the tomatoes, cut them into wedges, and commenced cooking. Took a break at lunchtime, during which Denise diverted a bunch to be sliced and loaded in the food dryer. Cooked down the tomatoes, two kettles at a time, mixed in the mushrooms and onions, commenced to canning. Came up a little short on the the additives, so I ran some of the cooked tomatoes through the food mill to can as juice. Water bath canner, 35 minutes per batch; by suppertime, we had made and sealed 20 quarts of tomato sauce, 4 quarts of juice.
2. Threw and assembled two dozen animal banks, elephants and tyrannosaurs. Also 21 pie plates (not pictured).
The Rex's are lying on their backs overnight to let the legs stiffen up. Or possibly to encourage you to pet their tummies. (It's a trap!)
3. Tearing off and replacing the east side of my pottery shed.
When we bought this place, one of the attractions was available storage. There were not one, but two storage units adjacent to the car port. Denise took over one for paper; I got the other for pottery. Over the years, the east wall has deteriorated. It was never great--they'd nailed up a couple of sheets of plywood, cross-wise, with two-by-fours supporting them, slapped on some white paint, and called it good. The past two years, the plywood has started to de-laminate, and dry-rot has attacked the two-by-fours. I really wanted to replace things before the rains returned.
So Wednesday, I went out to Jerry's and bought two 4x8-foot, pre-primed siding panels, wrestled them up on the roof rack, and drove them home. My drill driver's battery packs no longer hold a charge, and DeWalt doesn't make replacements anymore so I borrowed one from the Toolbox Project on Thursday. Friday morning was devoted to tearing down the old wall, repositioning a couple of studs, framing in some cross-members. Had to make another trip to Jerry's for a primed 8-foot 1x6 and a couple of 2x2's for the crosspieces, but got the whole project done by suppertime. I still need to pick up a bucket of paint, but Sunday morning's rain did not get inside.
1. Canned tomato sauce. We hit our favorite local farm stand and came home with apples, sweet corn, apple cider donuts (Denise's requirement) and two lugs of Roma tomatoes. Also mushrooms and green onions, which I sautéed and sweated, respectively, Sunday night. Monday, I washed and stemmed the tomatoes, cut them into wedges, and commenced cooking. Took a break at lunchtime, during which Denise diverted a bunch to be sliced and loaded in the food dryer. Cooked down the tomatoes, two kettles at a time, mixed in the mushrooms and onions, commenced to canning. Came up a little short on the the additives, so I ran some of the cooked tomatoes through the food mill to can as juice. Water bath canner, 35 minutes per batch; by suppertime, we had made and sealed 20 quarts of tomato sauce, 4 quarts of juice.
2. Threw and assembled two dozen animal banks, elephants and tyrannosaurs. Also 21 pie plates (not pictured).
The Rex's are lying on their backs overnight to let the legs stiffen up. Or possibly to encourage you to pet their tummies. (It's a trap!)
3. Tearing off and replacing the east side of my pottery shed.
When we bought this place, one of the attractions was available storage. There were not one, but two storage units adjacent to the car port. Denise took over one for paper; I got the other for pottery. Over the years, the east wall has deteriorated. It was never great--they'd nailed up a couple of sheets of plywood, cross-wise, with two-by-fours supporting them, slapped on some white paint, and called it good. The past two years, the plywood has started to de-laminate, and dry-rot has attacked the two-by-fours. I really wanted to replace things before the rains returned.
So Wednesday, I went out to Jerry's and bought two 4x8-foot, pre-primed siding panels, wrestled them up on the roof rack, and drove them home. My drill driver's battery packs no longer hold a charge, and DeWalt doesn't make replacements anymore so I borrowed one from the Toolbox Project on Thursday. Friday morning was devoted to tearing down the old wall, repositioning a couple of studs, framing in some cross-members. Had to make another trip to Jerry's for a primed 8-foot 1x6 and a couple of 2x2's for the crosspieces, but got the whole project done by suppertime. I still need to pick up a bucket of paint, but Sunday morning's rain did not get inside.
